Tuesday, October 30, 2012

STAR WARS (1977) Burger King Premium Posters

It's amazing to think that back in January of 1978, you could score one of these gorgeous, Del NicholsStar Wars posters - and a matching, collectible drinking glass - for the price of a regular soft drink at your local Burger King (or Burger Chef) restaurant. These much-desired premiums were sponsored by Coca-Cola, and are highly prized today. Personally, I think they're probably my favorite Star Wars related premiums ever. Here are the best scans I've ever come across of these stunning posters - enjoy!

Sorry for posting two art gallery-style posts in a row. I try to avoid that, but I didn't have anything else ready for today. However, I'm working on a bunch of more substantial entries (including November's Anniversary Space Babe) that should appear shortly. Stay tuned!

This is actually a very rare thing -- if you have the set, despite what you might see on ebay etc, they're worth a lot. Increasingly so. I have seen a set of four going in a gallery in London for about $3000 framed. Ebay can often be misleading because so many so-called original movie posters are spurious copies, because they're not in great shape, or because you're only looking at a starter bid. If you buy in the American auctions, for example, a poster can be $50 an hour before closing and $2000 when the bell goes. So it's hard to calculate value. This particular set is considered by some to be the best posters ever made for the movie -- and they are beautiful illustrations. Hold on to them, and if you put them on the market, may a handsome profit be with you.

Wow, I hadn't thought about these in 30+ years, but man, they are absolutely gorgeous pieces of art, the montage of images, the color palettes and Nichols fantastic technique, somebody should contact Lucasfilm about re-releaseing these four pieces as prints, they are some of the best, most nostalgic pieces of art for the first film ever produced in my opinion. I can not recall if I ever had any as a kid, but if I didn't I sure bet I wish I had!

Any Star Kids remember the commercial for these posters when Burger Chef offered them? It had C-3PO and R2-D2 actually visiting a Burger Chef restaurant, where they met an overly enthusiastic female employee in a silly looking '70s-style uniform (complete with silly looking '70s-style floppy hat). There were also appearances by Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Stormtroopers and even Lord Darth Vader himself. Btw, the same posters were eventually sold at Burger King (as well as a matching set of glasses), but these are somewhat harder to find today than the Burger Chef versions. The main difference is that the BK ones have a white border around them.

When my husband was clearing out his family's house after his father passed away in '07, he was stunned to discover that his late mother (a HUGE sci-fi fan, ultimate Nerd Mom; I wish I had known her) had not only carefully packed away my husband's SW and ESB glasses, but the four SW posters as well! And they're in pretty good shape, considering their age and that he'd had them on his walls as a teen; on a 1-10 scale (10 being mint/pristine), they're about a 6-8, the 6 being the Chewie poster had a small tear in the middle of it, but I fixed it so the tear looks like the lines of his fur. And after finding frames for them, I surprised him by restoring (matte boards hide a multitude of sins) and framing them. They are now the first thing you see when you walk into my living room, and depending on when the person seeing them was born, we either get a loud "WHOA! I HAD THOSE!" or a bewildered "Those are nice, where are they from, one of the comics?" Thank you for naming the artist, since we can't quite make out his signature, and thank you to Tim for pointing out the difference between the BK and BC posters; ours have the white border, so they're from BK-- so who knew?

He also discovered that his dear Mom had saved ALL of his original SW action figures, in their original carrying case (the vinyl lunchboxy kinda deal), with ALL their li'l bitty weapons. I married a fastidious Vulcan; he took/takes really good care of his stuff!

It's heart warming to hear such comments about Del Nichols posters. He was my husband and passed away December 2013. His grandson's have the sets of 4 framed and on their walls. They're 'cool' today even though that was 1977.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is dedicated to the science fiction films and television series of the 1970s - give or take a few years (say, 1969-1983) - including such nostalgic favorites as Star Wars, Space: 1999, UFO, Space Academy, the original Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Logan's Run and many others.

But be warned: I still love these productions with all the enthusiasm I held for them as a kid, and they will be treated here with affection and respect. If you're looking for someone to snarkily denigrate "old" movies - or like to do that yourself - you've come to the wrong site.

So journey with us back to the days when special effects were created by skillful hands and spaceships were detailed models, when robots were obligatory comedy relief, when square-jawed heroes and cloaked villains battled among the stars -- and the future was fun!

PLEASE NOTE:I do not sell (nor even buy, all that often) the memorabilia and merchandise I write about on this blog, nor do I have any idea what value your "collectibles" might have. That's not what this site is about, so please don't ask me.

ABOUT ME

Christopher Mills is a professional writer of comic books and short fiction in a variety of genres, as well as a DVD reviewer for several pop culture websites. His taste in entertainment clearly peaked when he was about 15, which certainly explains his embarrassing obsession with James Bond, hardboiled crime fiction, comic books, paperback pulps, space opera, Universal/Hammer/Toho Monsters, sword & sorcery sagas, old genre TV shows and vintage B-movies.

VISIT MY HOMEPAGE:

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MY CULT FILM & B-MOVIE SITE

Reviewing genre DVDs Since 2005

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